From: Markus Stumptner
Subject: [consim-l] Albion replay
This is a replay of the "Albion Alone" 3-turn scenario from SPI's "Albion"
game that appeared in Ares magazine. After having played it, this game's
richness reminds me of some games from the halcyon days of early Command:
Kadesh or Chaco, or the Wargamer Okinawa game, or in fact the lamented S&T
Italian Campaign series: a game that is actually almost a bit too big for
a magazine, bursting with creativity. Great stuff. Unfortunately, like
most of those, it also has some hefty holes in the rules. Oh, well...
Turn 1
I played no enchantments since I didn't really know my way around at
this point. By now I've come to the conclusion that even in a solo
game, playing a scrying enchantment could make sense for the Fomorian
player since it can require the Faerie player to decide on the
movement of units half a turn early.
Fomorian player turn.
Imric's host crosses Dermot's Dyke southwards; the army rests on the
coast south of Ravenglass en route to Garryknowe. BranOg, Ainsel, and
Magog attack Colleran in Brugh Melton, but are repelled with a bloody
nose, losing 2 steps. Bran Og did not want to challenge Colleran, and
Colleran (rightly, as it turns out), decided not to challenge anyone,
relying on the fortress to protect him. In Caer Arklow, Cormac
challenges Elidor and defeats him; then takes the leaderless fortress
(with 4 CSP inside) in three attacks (losing only 1 step). Sean joins
up with Dando and destroys the ungarrisoned Caer Brollachan. In Erin,
Balor and Connan collect their troops on the borders to Ulster.
VP Fo 20+5+4=29
Fa 3+3
Faerie player turn.
The Faerie commanders in Albion do not act, merely sit in their
fortresses and attempt to send messengers to their allies. Dunatis
and Gerflax become active.
Turn 2.
The first enchantments. Dunatis initiates Vortex creation on Imric's
stack; Gerflax does this for Bogan (who is still at sea). Both lose a
step to attrition. Imric: Strength 15, mod -3, result 1. Bogan:
Strength 14, mod 1, result 2, 1 loss.
Sean moves to the Denby Plinth, while his troops move with Dando to
Brugh Melton. Cormac, after some deliberation, decides to fall back
on Dun Mendib in case the Gnomes or Gwynedd should activate next turn.
Imric decides to take undefended Garryknowe first, while Bogan and
MacIver decide to avoid attacking Dorwen in Caer Menador for the time
being. Instead they sail up the river to 3235 and march the short
distance to Caer Ganmorgan, defended by Eldric and his troops.
In the combat phase, Dando predictably challenges Colleran at Brugh
Melton and after initially suffering just as much, gains the upper
hand after four rounds. Colleran dies, and the fortress falls in two
rounds of combat. Imric takes Garryknowe without problems. At Caer
Ganmorgan, Bogan challenges Edric. At first, the fight seesaws with
both warriors suffering a number of wounds, then they clash again and
again with little effect, but finally (7th round) Bogan lands the
deadly blow. Edric dies. In the attack on the fortress, the
Fomorians lose four CSP against the Fomorian garrison of four before
the garrison dies on the second attack, and no less than five wounds
to the leaders: Bogan, weakened by his fight against Edric,
dies. MacIver narrowly survives.
In Erin, Balor and Connan join forces to attack Caer Knockma. Connan
challenges Finvarra, carrier of the axe Trollbane. That could
hurt... and it does, initially, but then Connan slowly gains the upper
hand. In the end, Connan takes Trollbane from Finvarra's dead hands.
(I challenged with Connan despite his being the weaker fighter because
Balor has the better command rating. If Balor had challenged, he'd
have remained unhurt.)
The attack on the fortress, defenders now led by Morigu, is much less
fortuitous. Connan and Balor both suffer heavy wounds and have to
abort the assault after one round. Morigu is wounded as well, but
ironically Cluracan with Ulster's other army will now be in a good
position to cut off the two Troll armies and destroy them; neither
king is going to withstand him in combat. Even without Leinster being
active, things look dire for the Fomorians.
VP Fo 5+4+10+10+15+5+5+4+2=60
Fa 1+3+3+5+3=15
Faerie player turn.
Gwynedd and Misha are finally activated, but both Leinster and the
Gnomes decide not to become involved at this point. Morigu heals one wound.
One of the Gwynedd armies under Arwan marches to Emlyn Brugh (because
marching to attck MacIver who is still near Caer Ganmorgan would
produce a reaction by Imric, and Arwan's force is to weak for that).
Midnhir collects Branwen and marches southwards. (Later I noted that
it would probably have been better for Arwan to put his men aboard
Morningstar and sail for undefended Mulkirk Hall, to destroy it.
Them's the breaks.)
Dorwen, sole surviving Albion commander, has the same problem as Arwan
- with Imric nearby he cannot leave Caer Menador because otherwise it
would suffer while he is away. So there's not a lot of movement
there. However, the Ulsterians are under no such constraint. Cluracan
marches south from Arannrook to join forces with Morigu and they
attack the forces of Balor and Connan camped west of the fortress.
Cluracan's challenge is answered by Connan, who despite his severely
weakened state (which does not really leave the outcome in doubt)
survives surprisingly long and even manages to draw first blood.
Unfortunately this so enrages Cluracan that he ends the fight with a
single massive stroke, after 11 rounds. Next, the armies clash.
Unfortunately, the Trolls predictably choose clear terrain. The
Ulsterians are beaten back, but Balor is killed during the battle,
leaving his and Connan's army leaderless in enemy territory.
(Actually, all of this hewing and slashing was unnecessary from the
Fomorian side, since with his '5' command rating, Balor could have
removed his force from battle and marched back almost to Broch Wyvis.)
Now the Fomorian fortresses in Erin lie defenseless.
VP Fo 2
Fa 5+1+5
Turn 3.
Enchantments: Dunatis is going to try a mental attack on Cormac,
Gerflax and Misha will go with vortex creation. Sean and Dobie will
also try vortex creation, Dobie is not successful. Dunatis' mental
attack on Cormac proves to be a really bad idea, big "hunk of muscle"
type guys apparently take a lot of energy to overcome. Dunatis dies
from the strain before the attack is successful.
Fomorian player turn.
Magog, Rurik, Ainsel recover from their wounds. Sean is losing
stamina from his long stay on Denby Plinth(DR5), 4 steps are lost to
attrition from the army at Brugh Melton. 2 steps are lost to Imric's
army due to Gerflax's vortex (DR12); Imric and Rurik are wounded.
Midnhir (DR3+5 vortex creation) loses 2 CsP (wounding the strongest
warrior in the army is a bad idea- I originally wounded him but had to
remove this later so he could duel with Cormac.)
Dando collects his army, moves to his ships anchored near Redhill Pits
and sails home to Dun Hamel. Not quite what I wanted with that
though, Hoddenhill is still undefended. Sean moves south again from
Denby Plinth. MacIver also retreats. Imric thinks about finishing off
Albion, marching against Dorwen to challenge him to a Duel Arcane.
(Shrewd move, really; being guaranteed to lose Rurik against Dorwen,
who is carrying Requiter after all, would be annoying due to Rurik's
cleverness in battle.) Rurik would be certainly lost when Dorwen
comes in his phase together with an army from Gwynedd, but Imric could
always use the Reaction phase to withdraw due to his much superior
command rating. So Imric stays where he is. The men of the Eastmarch
also march back home.
VP Fo 5
Fa 1+2+1+3=7
Faerie player turn.
Arwan moves to destroy the Ochil troops left behind at Caer Ganmorgan
after Bogan's death, while Dorwen moves to protect Emlyn Brugh in case
Imric decides to land there. Good that the game is over though as
their side is still dangerously overstretched... Imric could easily
(well, after a naval battle to be sure) land and take either Caer
Cader or Caer Callan since Arwan left them empty. The attack on the
Ochils, which they await out in the open, still results in their
elimination. In the last major field battle, Midnhir attacks the
wounded Cormac (wounded) at Dun Mendip and challenges him. Both
Midnhir and Cormac die. Branwen leads the assault on the fortress.
Branwen dies, the leaderless army remains in camp before the
undefeated fortress. In Erin things go the Faerie way though, as
Cluracan moves to Broch Wyvis and easily takes it.
VP Fo 5+5+2=12
Fa 3+10+5+2=20
Total VP: Fa 59, Fo 108. According to the victory conditions (which
require a 3:1 advantage at the end) the invasion was a failure, but
I'm still learning. The fortress assault in Erin was unfortunate, and
even then a withdrawal would have left two leaders and their army
alive, and would almost have brought the required level in reach. On
the other hand, I am sure I missed some Faerie opportunities as
well. (And killing Dunatis was just stupid. :-)
For next time: It was a major error on the Fomorian side to leave Grogan
and Glastyn at home (to protect against raids), the sailing problems in
the Minches should prevent any quick raid against the empty brochs anyway,
and they would help a lot on the first couple of turns (after which they
should indeed be withdrawn to protect the north).
What I really need next is an opponent for ftf play, with all the
persons, items, and enchantments to remember and the myriad choices in
the game, it it is fairly hard to decide on a particular course of
action. Should be easier with a real opponent on the other side. A
definite winner. (Thanks to Gary Robinson who brought this game to my
attention.)
Markus
Last 3 games played: Air & Armor, Albion, GCS Hunters from the Sky
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"Bakayaro! Bakayaro!" ("Stupid Bastards! Stupid Bastards!") -- Admiral
Aritomo Goto's last words to his staff, October 11, 1942